Outcome of Tertiary Education Commission investigation

Media Release

19 October 2016

- for immediate release

Outcome of Tertiary Education Commission investigation

Lincoln University moved quickly to address Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) concerns raised in the investigation of four courses offered by the Lincoln University Telford Division and regrets the situation that arose. Students who have successfully completed Lincoln University programmes are not affected.

The Lincoln Telford Division offers vocational, certificate, and diploma courses in the primary industries. The TEC raised no issues with other programmes.

The TEC investigation focussed on four of the 33 programmes offered by the Division. These programmes were offered through third-party delivery partners and were:

• Telford Certificate in Farming (Practices)

• National Certificate in Horticulture (Arboriculture)

• National Certificate in Horticulture

• Telford Foundation Certificate in Arboriculture

Lincoln University has repaid $1.5 million to the TEC. This relates to Telford Division programmes delivered over the 2010-2015 period and represents less than one per cent of the University’s funding.

TEC funding and monitoring counts hours of instruction delivered to students, rather than educational outcomes such as learning. On this basis it was found that fewer hours of instruction were delivered to students than were funded.

Consequently TEC has been reimbursed for the shortfall of instructional inputs.

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